1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of releasable headers for vehicle soft tops and more particularly to the field of releasable headers with structure to prevent undesirable rotation of the header relative to the vehicle windshield.
2. Discussion of the Background.
Soft tops and other accessories which are removably securable to the windshield of sport utility vehicles come in a wide variety of designs. In one of the more common designs, the soft top or other accessories has an integral header that is releasably attachable to the windshield of the vehicle. In a second common design, the header is essentially permanently attached to the windshield and the top or other accessories is then removably secured to the header.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,546 is an example of the first type of design. In it, the soft top of FIG. 8 has its own header 100 that is releasably securable to the windshield 32 by clamps (see also its FIGS. 12-13). In this first type, the clamps can be either fixed to the header itself as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,546 or fixed to the windshield as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,850 at FIGS. 8 and 11. In the second type of design, the header and top are separate parts. The header is then removably attached (or permanently attached) to the windshield and the front of the soft top or other accessory is removably secured to the header by snaps, belts, or similar means. The rear of the top is then tied or otherwise removably secured to the vehicle.
With the first type, it is possible to use only clamps or latches to releasably secure the header to the windshield. This is very commercially advantageous because the vehicle owner does not have to use any other parts or tools to attach/remove the header and no extra holes must be drilled in the original equipment windshield. However, with current headers for the second type, attachments more elaborate than clamps alone are normally necessary. These more elaborate attachments nearly always involve drilling additional holes in the windshield (beyond those normally provided by the vehicle manufacturer to receive clamps) and using bolts and other parts that require tools to attach/remove the header. The reason that such attachments beyond or in addition to clamps are necessary in the second type is that most clamps by themselves create a torque on the header that tends to rotate it downwardly into the cabin of the vehicle. This can separate and create a crack or space between the header and windshield that not only is unsightly (e.g., the top attached to the header can have a noticeable dip or slack in it) but also can leak water, air, and dust into the cabin. Additionally, as the vehicle is driven, the loose top tends to flutter and the leaking air tends to creates an annoying whistle in the vehicle cabin.
The first type of header design can be attached to the windshield using clamps alone because the top is also secured to a folding frame that in turn is secured to the vehicle (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,947,546 and 5,299,850). In particular, the leg 106 of the folding frame in FIG. 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,546 is rigidly attached to the header 100 and pivotally secured to the vehicle at pivot 120 (see FIGS. 4 and 7). This attachment of the header 100 to the frame is stiff enough that it counters any rotational forces applied to the header 100 by the clamps. Similarly, the leg 15 in FIG. 8 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,850 is fixedly attached to the vehicle by a pivot on the drip rail just above the door. In contrast, with the second type of design, there is no such frame to counter the rotational forces of the clamps on the header as there is just the header and the fabric of the soft top attached to it (i.e., no frame). The challenge then arises to design a frameless soft top with its own, integral header that can be releasably secured to the windshield just by clamps yet not have the rotation problems of existing headers.
With this and other problems in mind, the present invention was developed. In it, structure is provided on the releasable header of a frameless soft top to counter any tendency of the header to undesirably rotate when it is clamped to the windshield of the vehicle.